Red Knobbed Coot

[Stu Bowie]

This was captured at one of the locations I visited in Cape Town during my december holidays. This wetlands is surrounded by a huge shopping centre and office buildings. There is one area on the water, where some of the buildings on the opposite side of the water reflect their colours, and this is what you see. I waited for any subject to swim across into the 'colourful 'water to show something different. No saturation added to this at all. Taken late afternoon.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm
1/1250
F/9
ISO 1000

Hand held from a hide.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Stu, this is wonderful. The colours are stunning and the black coot pops against the water. The eye is great and techs superb! Nicely seen and photographed!!

[Ritesh Nangare]

Lovely image with great colours in FG and BG ....

[Randy Stout]

Stu:

Excellent use of local resources (buildings!) to add some real color to the image. Nicely exposed with good handling of the challenging bill.

I could envision several optional crops, one version with a bit more pano feel. Although quite soft, I do find the vegetation in the bg to be a bit distracting, probably because the bright and colorful water makes it stand out more.

The situation reminds me of Little Estero in Ft. Meyers Beach, where late afternoon shoots gave you the choice of many different colors in the water, depending on which condo the light was reflecting from.

Cheers

Randy

[steve torna]

Hi Stu, The color on the water is very unique and compliments the coot . I might consider cropping the blurry orange band on the left of the frame and crop the top to below the bluish floating vegetation. The ripples in the foreground add interest; the water in general is sort of an abstract which works well with the subject . I think that this is a beautiful portrait. This reminds me of when I lived in Glacier County, Montana; the color of the box cars would reflect in wetland areas along the southern end of GNP. I was never fortunate enough to capture anything like this. steve

[Grace Scalzo]

Nice colors to set off this bird. I agree on modifying the crop to eliminate the smudgy vegetation.

[Bill Dix]

Good one, Stu. I also thought of Little Estero as soon as I saw this, although none of the condos there are quite as stunning. I also agree with the above comments re crop, although it might put the bird a little too high in the frame.

[gail bisson]

Beautifully seen and executed Stu!
Before I read all the previous comments my first thought was I would get rid of the bluish stuff at the top of the frame and come in from the left to put the coot in the upper left third.
Blacks look great.
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nicely done Stu, I rather like the composition just as it is. As usual excellent details, BTW I have never seen on of these birds before.

[Stu Bowie]

BTW I have never seen on of these birds before.

Thanks Jon. Its time you popped over to SA. These guys are all over the place at most wetland locations.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the great feedback and suggestions. Here is a quick job on a repost with your crop suggestions.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I prefer the original, the water is too homogeneous to my eye.
Stu,, but I have a couple of hols in hand, I will visit though - definitely

[William Dickson]

Looks real good Stu. Fantastic colours all blending nicely with the bird.

Will

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - well seen and executed. Would not have known it was buildings reflecting their color without your explanation. Rp works for me.

TFS,
Rachel